Early Chalcolithic in Mesopotamia:
the Ubaid period
Topic 2: Politically and socially
egalitarian or hierarchical?
Egalitarian or hierarchical?
• Evolutionary assumptions behind the formulation of
the question: 1960s-70s Processual Archaeology
– chiefdoms must precede (Uruk-period) states
– chiefdoms should have specific kinds of features, including
differential burials, hierarchical settlement patterns,
distinctions in architecture and/or goods consumed
• But (most) Ubaid societies do not show many
obvious signs of hierarchy
Settlement patterns
• Sites more commonly settled for longer
periods – build-up of mounds
• Settlement density appears higher in northern
than southern Mesopotamia
– perhaps due in part to geomorphological issues as well as
survey methods
• Most sites small: 1 ha or less
• In some areas, a few large sites (c. 10 ha):
Ur, Eridu, Oueili, Nippur, Uqair, Susa
– with temples, cemeteries
Susa A phase
Tell Abada, Hamrin region
• nearly whole village
excavated
• Levels I (most recent) to
III (oldest)
Level II Level I
Jasim 1985; Pollock 1999
Tell Abada
• Most buildings have similar array of
domestic artifacts – for cooking, food
preparation and storage
– bread ovens in open spaces outside of houses
• Houses range in from 100-200 m2 – but
nonetheless have similar array of tools and
other artifacts, with one exception
• House A: largest house in all levels
– extra walled in space behind it: L. II
– thick walls: L. I
– no domestic artifacts (L. II) other than pottery
– clay tokens, marble studs and pendants,
numerous infant burials in urns below the floor
Jasim 1985
Tell Abada
• House A distinct throughout all levels – implying
some kind of inherited difference
• Otherwise little indication of internal differentiation
Tell Madhhur
• Nearby Abada
• One well preserved house excavated, 170 m2
• Similar array of domestic items, similar plan
- 78 pottery vessels, from small cups to large storage jars
- bent clay mullers, grinding stones, stone hoes, spindle whorls
- hearths, but no ovens or kilns
cooking & food
prep
serving
food prep, no
cooking
storage
Madhhur house
Eridu
• One of the first Iraqi excavations
of prehistoric site
• Appears in the Sumerian King
List (early 2nd mill. BCE) as the
oldest city in the world
• Temple sequence
• ‘Hut sounding’ – simple reed mat
huts plastered with mud
• Cemetery – approximately 200
burials excavated
Heinrich 1982
Eridu Cemetery
• Burials in earthen pits or brick
boxes
• Extended on back
• Single or double burials
• Relatively standard set of grave
goods
– pottery
– beads
– little differentiation in treatment except
by age
Safar et al. 1981
Susa
• First settled in late Ubaid,
locally known as Susa A or
Susa I
• Huge mudbrick, stepped
platform erected: 80 X 65 m
and 10 m high
– façade decorated with mosaic
– atop the platform a storage
building, a temple and a possible
residence
• Variety of seal impressions
• Next to step platform a low
platform into which graves
were dug
Pollock 1989
Susa Necropole
• Approx. 2000 burials
• Some primary, some
secondary burials
• Standard sets of pottery; many
pieces particularly fine
• Copper axes and mirrors for a
small number of individuals
• Some with beads
• Exception to lack of
differentiation and exotic
goods
• Also true for Late Ubaid Gawra Harper et al. 1992
Egalitarian or hierarchical?
• Different approaches to intepretation
– political and social inequalities: Henry Wright; Susan Pollock
– largely egalitarian, with short-term leaders/priests: Frank
Hole
– inequalities but egalitarian ideology: Gil Stein
• Recent work points to considerable regional variation
– one problem with earlier interpretations is tendency to lump
evidence from different regions